1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to digitizing venue maps, and in particular to generating a venue map and venue information used to support an online, interactive event ticket buying system.
2. Description of the Related Art
On-line event ticket purchasing systems allow buyers to purchase tickets for various events. These systems typically allow buyers to search for events, view a list of matching events, choose an event of interest, view available tickets for that event, and then purchase tickets. Ticket buyers typically want to know exactly where they're going to sit in the venue. Seats with a better view or seats closer to the field or performer are generally more desirable, and usually cost more than seats further away. Buyers usually want to find the best seats within their budget (usually selecting from a wide price range of tickets). Accordingly, some systems have a static venue map, typically a bitmap image, that the buyer can refer to when selecting tickets. Some systems have more complex maps, which may be interactive and may display limited ticket information directly on the map.
A key problem to support complex, interactive maps is developing detailed data about the venue, including the specific locations of sections, rows and seats and encoding that information into an format from which an interactive map can be generated. The information can be developed manually, an expensive and time-consuming process. For example, consider the manual effort needed to manual encode the information for a venue with 100,000 or more seats; such a process would be necessary for dozens of venues all around the country.